Towards resilient supply chain networks

In the past decade, events like 9/11 terror attacks, the recent financial crisis and other major crisis has proved that there is strong interaction and interdependency of a supply chain network with its external environments in various channels and thus a need to focus on building resiliency (in short, the ability of the system to recover from damage or disruption) of the entire network system. Although literature has discussed some way of improving resiliency of an individual firm which is a member of the network system, it lacked to capture a holistic view of the supply chain network. Pertaining to this observation, this work proposes to improve resiliency of a supply chain network from a system’s perspective rather concentrate on an individual firm. For this purpose, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework to promote early identification and timely information of the disruptions arising in a supply chain network and timely sharing of this information among all the members of the network. The key principle emphasized in this thesis is that recovery from an inevitable disruption has a better possibility if a member of the supply chain network has an early indication or knowledge of the upcoming disruption. A discrete event dynamic system simulation tool called Petri nets is utilized to realize the proposed conceptual framework. Furthermore, the practical benefits and implications of the proposed model and tool are demonstrated with help of two case studies. This thesis has several contributions to the field of operation management and supply chain. First, a new paradigm for supply chain management to avoid large scale failures such as financial crisis is available to the field, which may be applied by governments or regulatory bodies. Second, a new framework which allows for a quantitative analysis of failures of an entire supply chain network is available to the field, which is easy to be used. Third, a novel application of Petri nets to this new problem in supply chain management is available

Open semantic service networks

Online service marketplaces will soon be part of the economy to scale the provision of specialized multi-party services through automation and standardization. Current research, such as the *-USDL service description language family, is already defining the basic building blocks to model the next generation of business services. Nonetheless, the developments being made do not target to interconnect services via service relationships. Without the concept of relationship, marketplaces will be seen as mere functional silos containing service descriptions. Yet, in real economies, all services are related and connected. Therefore, to address this gap we introduce the concept of open semantic service network (OSSN), concerned with the establishment of rich relationships between services. These networks will provide valuable knowledge on the global service economy, which can be exploited for many socio-economic and scientific purposes such as service network analysis, management, and control

Toward a Resilient Holistic Supply Chain Network System: Concept, Review and Future Direction

The recent financial crisis and other major crises have suggested that there are some strong interactions and interdependence between several supply chains and their external environments in various ways. A set of supply chains that are interdependent is called a holistic supply chain network (H-SCN) in this paper. There is a need to focus on building the resilience (in short, the ability of a system to recover from damage or disruption) of an entire H-SCN as it is believed that such a network system is strongly relevant to the recent economic recession that is triggered by financial crises. The objectives of this paper are to provide a classification of different SCNs in literature, leading to the identification of a new type of SCN system, i.e., an H-SCN, and to discuss the state of knowledge on the resilience of SCNs, particularly of an H-SCN. A systematic review approach is applied in this paper. Another contribution of this paper is the provision of a more comprehensive definition and description of resilient systems, including SCN systems. A final contribution of this paper is the proposal of the future directions of research on resilient SCN systems, particularly resilient H-SCN systems.postprin

Consumer behavior analysis on sales process model using process discovery algorithm for the omnichannel distribution system

Currently, Omnichannel distribution services are experiencing very rapid development around the world. In the Omnichannel distribution services, each existing sales channel will be connected to each other through integration capabilities so that no channels are left neglected. This is able to provide the best experience for consumers when shopping both online through mobile devices, laptops, and in physical stores. But on the other hand, this creates problems for business people who develop Omnichannel services. On the one hand, it facilitates the marketing process, but on the other hand, business people have difficultyreading the behavior of consumers who use Omnichannel distribution services. One way to analyze consumer behavior is to use the Process Discovery approach to obtain a process model. There are several Process Discovery Algorithms capable of describing and analyzing process models. In this paper, an experiment was carried out using the sales event log dataset generated from the Omnichannel distribution service system. Service channels used are Marketplace, Web Store, Social Media, Social Media Shop, and Media Messenger. Sales process modelling is generated using the Inductive Miner Algorithm, Heuristic Algorithm, Alpha Miner Algorithm and Fuzzy Miner Algorithm. Then the next step is to measure the process model obtained by Conformance Checking. The purpose of process modeling and measurement is to obtain a sales process model that can predict consumer behavior patterns well. The results of the analysis show that the process model generated by the Fuzzy Miner Algorithm is the best process model for describing consumer behavior in Omnichannel Distribution Services in this study. Based on the process model obtained with the Fuzzy Miner Algorithm, consumer behavior shows that the majority of consumers spend time on social media channels and then make purchases on the Marketplace channel. In addition, the results of the analysis show that consumers make more transactions on the Marketplace channel compared to the webstore channel or Social Media Shop channel

Engineering framework for service-oriented automation systems

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Informática. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

Design and Planning of Manufacturing Networks for Mass Customisation and Personalisation: Challenges and Outlook

AbstractManufacturers and service providers are called to design, plan and operate globalized manufacturing networks, addressing to challenges such as ever-decreasing lifecycles and increased product complexity. These factors, caused primarily by mass customisation and demand volatility, generate a number of issues related to the design and planning of manufacturing systems and networks, which are not holistically tackled in industrial and academic practices. The mapping of production performance requirements to process and production planning requires automated closed-loop control systems, which current systems fail to deliver. Technology-based business approaches are an enabler for increased enterprise performance. Towards that end, the issues discussed in this paper focus on challenges in the design and planning of manufacturing networks in a mass customization and personalization landscape. The development of methods and tools for supporting the dynamic configuration and optimal routing of manufacturing networks and facilities under cost, time, complexity and environmental constraints to support product-service personalization are promoted

What is the potential of additive manufacturing in supply chains? : a narrative literature review approach

The study of additive manufacturing (AM) has grown rapidly during the last decade as it is perceived that the technology has the potential to revolutionize the way in which products are produced and delivered to the customer. Additionally, AM is able to create new business opportunities, as well as introduce new rules of competition to the business world. Despite experiencing immense growth in the study of AM, the knowledge of interdependencies across forms of technology deployment and different sectors involved in supply chains is widely dispersed. The initial consequence of this situation is to proliferate fragmented studies duplicating identical efforts, while neglecting certain aspects. Therefore, this article attempts to synthesize the existing research on AM regarding its impact on business and supply chain management with the goal of shedding light on the current situation and open up avenues for further research. This paper applies a narrative approach to conducting a literature review and summarizes the fndings in relation to three main categories of the supply chain: supply side, frm side and demand side. Additionally, it offers recent examples of AM deployment in industry and the real world to highlight the trend and potential in the area of AM. Given this trend and potential of AM in business, decision makers (based on their positions in the entire supply chain) are able to make better choices when deploying this technology as a disruptive technology. Being on time and making the right choice of new technology deployments not only prevent firms from losing their competitive advantage (and from bankruptcy in ultimate situations), but also support them to enhance their advantage over their competitors. In particular, they can receive high-level benefts as early or first adopters. This article is a step towards reaching this goal.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed